The Washington Post has an article on how the FBI has sent has adopted a practice of using these “National security letters” to find out all sorts of information on someone without them knowing. There is practically no oversight of what kind of information can be collected or why the information is collected.
As of a few years ago, collected information that was deemed not useful was destroyed. Now the information is held forever in databases, to be used for whatever purposes the FBI thinks is necessary. The increased abilities in the FBI to issue a National scurity letter is thanks to the Patriot Act.
This Bush administration seems bent on becoming Big Brother. We’re at war with terror, and it doesn’t seem like that will end any time soon. The government is scandal-ridden, and there is no transparency anymore.
Things are getting ridiculous now. The government can find out who we talk to, where we go, or what we do, and we don’t even know that they know. And it’s all in the name of “national security.” Give me a break.
bastone.org 
3 replies on “National Security Letters”
Joe, We need to talk.
VPOTUS
Wow, I never knew that the VP of the US had enough time to read my little blog. This is quite an honor!
Let’s talk!
[…] In some welcome news, I am glad to see some members of the Senate finally wake up and start to question the Patriot Act. This all goes back to something I mentioned a while ago. We need to have working checks and balances in place. There needs to be a reason for obtaining a warrent to search someone, but the House version of extending the Patriot act. […]